Tony Frank, Serge Gainsbourg - Inside Album, 1971. Silver Print on Barium paper, 19.7 x 23.6 in (50 x 60 cm) Signed on the back and numbered 3/20. From the collection of the artist and printed on 2011.

This photography was taken and used for the inside album of Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg. According to Tony Frank, this photography was one of Gainsbourg´s favorite. This year, the 40 years anniversary of the album is celebrated. Histoire de Melody Nelson is a 1971 concept album by French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. It is considered by many to be Gainsbourg's most influential and accomplished album. The album which only lasts 28 minutes tells the story of the middle-aged man (Gainsbourg) who unintentionally colliding his Rolls Royce Silver Ghost into teenage nymphet Melody Nelson's bicycle (Jane Birkin), and the subsequent seduction and romance that ensues. It was interpreted by both Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. After the release of the album, videos were made as well as a comic book.

Tony Frank (b.1945), a French photographer, started his career in the sixties when he was the main photographer of famous magazines such as "Salut les Copains" and "Hit". Then he joined Agence Sigma and still work nowadays for numerous magazines and phonographic companies.
He photographed all the stars and singers from the "yeye generation" (1960s) and that included Dutronc, Hardy but also the Beatles, the Who... He´s often at the origin of some iconic photography such as the one of the singer Polnareff, showing his ass on red background and this image was glued on most walls in Paris in 1972. He also did the iconic photography of Jane Birkin as Melody Nelson for the internationally reknown album Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg. He´s become the recognized photogapher of Serge Gainsbourg, Johnny Hallyday and Eddy Mitchel.